Speaking Freely

Blogger Code Of Conduct – We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges

Tim O’Reilly actually wrote a draft of the Blogging Code of Conduct and I must say, it’s a do-gooder, Hollywood-esque, knee-jerk piece of ribbon activism that will probably have half the blogwumps in tears and the other half nonplussed.

These people need a badge to remind them to exercise common sense?

We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
– is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
– is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
– infringes upon a copyright or trademark
– violates an obligation of confidentiality
– violates the privacy of others

Just brilliant. Except for the ad-hominem bit, we have laws that cover all that ‘unacceptable content’.

We define and determine what is “unacceptable content” on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why. [We reserve the right to change these standards at any time with no notice.]

Perfect. A moving code of conduct.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.

What? So supply an anonymous email address and post away.

Now if you’d all just wear a badge letting everyone know you want to end hunger, disease and war the world would be a much better place.